Behavior Problems
by writer0gone0crazy
Summary: Bosco is already struggling with depression, and then his life takes a turn for the worse.


"Bosco, what's going on with you?" Faith asked her partner. He'd been quiet the past week, something very unusual with him. He was definitely shrinking, his uniform baggy over his stomach and arms. And the bags under his eyes were showing lack of sleep, as was the pale color of his skin showing lack of sunlight.

"Nothing, I'm just…not, uh, sleeping as well as usual," Bosco said. Obviously he was just making this up. She knew it, and he knew she knew it. But it didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He didn't know why, didn't know what had happened to him that led to this, but he felt as though his life was over.

"That's chicken shit, Bos," Faith said. She knew outbursts wouldn't help anything, but frustration was quickly taking the place of her worry. It was hard to care so much about someone who just pushed you away whenever you tried to help. She knew that was his nature, but it was just plain dumb to sit around and keep things to yourself.

"Thanks, Faith," Bosco mumbled.

"Look, I know you're sick of people asking, but you've really lost your touch at hiding your emotions. It's obvious something's up," Faith said bluntly. She'd never been like this to him before, she always thought that if you wanted someone to open up, you had to be sympathetic and caring, but since that didn't work on Bosco she was gonna have to try some tough love.

When he was quiet, she kept going. "What makes you think that you won't feel better if you tell me your problems?"

"Because I don't even know my problems!" he snapped. She looked at him strangely, wondering what he meant. He looked embarrassed, like that was something he hadn't meant to say.Then a sad look appeared on his face, only for a second, and when Faith caught a glimpse of it, it was like her heart broke.

"We're going to go sit and we're going to talk, okay?" Faith told him. She said it in form of a question, but he knew by her tone it wasn't a question. He didn't say anything, but he had been thinking about what she said about how he would feel better about talking to her, or whatever. She didn kind of have a point. But what could talking really do? I mean, maybe it's worth a shot.

As Bosco was contemplating talking or not, Faith pulled out her cell phone and called up Lieutenant Swersky. She knew that he was also worried abouther partner, and doubted he would mind if they took a couple hours off.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, it's Faith," she replied.

"What's going on?"

"Well, would you mind if me and Bosco took off a couple hours and went back to my apartment. We have some things to talk about."

"No, take your time with him, Faith."

"Okay, thank you very much."

"Call if you need anything."

"Okay, I will. Bye bye."

She hung up the phone and then looked towards Bosco. He was staring blankly out the window, as was his usual routine lately. "We're going to your apartment," she told him. He just nodded.

When they reached the apartment, they walked up to his room. Bosco deliberately took a long time. He wasn't sure what Faith had said on the phone with Swersky, but he was thinking maybe she had a certain time to be off work with him, and the less awkwardly he could waste it, the better.

He reached his apartment much faster than intended, and Faith watched impatiently as he took his time finding his keys and unlocking the door. She knew exactly what he was doing, but, being a mother, had the ability to look like she was being patient.

When they got inside his apartment, they first went to the couch. It was silent at first, and awkward, as Bosco had dreaded. "So…" he muttered.

"Bosco, just talk to me. Come on, just start wherever, let your feelings out," Faith practically begged. It would be so nice for her to hear him share.

"Faith, I'm just not happy anymore," he admitted.

"Why, what happened?"

"I don't know. Seriously, it's like I woke up one morning and I just realized how much I hate myself."

"Bosco, there's nothing for you to hate."

"Yes, there is."

"Everyone has things they don't like about themselves."

"Yeah, but most people actually like some things." Faith wasn't sure how to respond to this. They just looked at each other, but this time things weren't awkward. It was as though they were trying to get each other to understand each other. "I'm not hungry anymore, and I barely ever get sleepy. But when I do, I don't sleep, I just sit in bed and think about all the bad things that happened to me, and I think about my childhood, and all the things that scare me and I just scare myself so bad. So I get afraid and I take medicine to make me fall asleep but when I wake up I always feel sick but I take the medicine anyhow because when I'm scared I don't think about it. And I cry all the time."

He looked at Faith with the saddest puppy dog eyes he had. She wanted to say something, to tell him how sorry she was that he felt this way, but she wasn't sure how to express it. So he kept on talking, "I don't ever hang out anyone, I just don't feel like it. But as I sit at home alone I start to get lonely, so it's like I can never win.I just feel so damn lonely. And I haven't wanted sex in way too long."

"Now, that bothers me," Faith said. She couldn't help it. At first, she thought Bosco would be offended, but he actually smiled. It was something she hadn't seen in awhile.

"I'm sorry," he said, his smile quickly vanishing.

"Sorry?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, I shouldn't be putting all this on you, it's dumb," he said, feeling very ashamed all of a sudden.

"Bos, no, I'm glad you're talking to me," she assured him. "Don't worry, I'm going to make sure everything turns out okay."


End file.
